Video/Film
Single-channel Video, Colour, Sound, 3’53”
5+2AP (#1/5)
0Bruce Yonemoto (b.1949) currently lives and works in Los Angeles, USA.
Before Social Media enabled political dissent and contributed to the rise of such political figures as Donald Trump, early Enka, a popular Japanese music genre, was a force for social change. Enka was first introduced as a form of oral communication to make political ideas accessible to the public as well as to avert police interference. More recently the audience for Enka songs has been older people, a musical vestige of a colonial Japanese past. Japanese-American artist Bruce Yonemoto has restored the original political intent of Enka songs by enlisting artists in Japan and Taiwan to write and sing contemporary lyrics to popular Enka melodies.
In this reinterpretation of Enka, the artist’s political opinions are written into lyrics and embedded in the original composition. Enka, before it became a form of general pop music in the 50’s, was first introduced to the public as an instrument for political dissent and evoking social change. This initial intention and its political dynamic are the aspects that Bruce Yonemoto is trying to revive in his Enka project series. There are comments about modern politics and international geopolitical affairs. The artist summoned a mythical animal named “Karajishi”: a fierce lion that has the courage and every capacity needed to face all wrongness in the world.
